‘Son of Saul’ Director László Nemes Goes Personal in ‘Orphan’ and Still Dreams of Making Next Film in English

Oscar-winning “Son of Saul” and “Sunset” director László Nemes takes a personal story to the Venice competition. In “Orphan,” he’s recalling the story of his father who, as a 12-year-old boy, had to face his family’s secret.  

“He found out his father was not really his father. And the man who came knocking on their door was, well, not what he was expecting,” recalls Nemes. “My dad grew up with this personal trauma and on top of that, the Second World War shaped his life in such a dramatic way. It haunted him. Later, it haunted me too.”

“Orphan” is produced by Pioneer Prods., Good Chaos, Mid March Media and AR Content. New Europe Film Sales co-sells the film with Charades.

He ended up finding universal themes in the story — “It’s almost archetypal” — comparing it to the dilemmas of Oedipus or Hamlet. But Nemes wasn’t just interested in intergenerational trauma when telling the story of a headstrong boy, Andor, set in 1957, just a few months after the failed Hungarian uprising.

“This kid was born in the last days of the Second World War — his life mirrors all the systemic oppressions of the 20th century in Europe. I think we are still in the same historical cycle. Its many effects are still unfolding or about to unfold,” he notes. 

“I feel very deeply about the connection of the individual to his or her times. Cinema has a tendency to suggest the individual can do much more — I think we are limited. There’s a deep tragedy at the heart of the individual that’s subject to historical forces way beyond their understanding,” he says.

Nemes has built a career out of looking for cinematic language suggesting that “what’s in the past is not in the past.” 

“With ‘Sunset,’ the parallels to the First World War and how Europe brought itself down were already reverberating when the film came out [in 2018]. You could feel this upheaval of our societies. In ‘Orphan,’ I want to bring the viewers into the very heart of the communist repression, as seen by a kid. When I grew up in the 1980s, I could still feel it on my skin.”

There is a long tradition of looking at war through the eyes of a child, from “Come and See” to “Empire of the Sun,” Spielberg’s drama that Nemes “dearly loved.” It led him to creating a universe that’s “both hard and soft.” 

“The softness can’t be separated from its harshness. Some would call it magical realism — I called it ‘magical socialism’,” he smiles.

“I’m always looking for hope — even in ‘Son of Saul.’ Even in the darkest places, you can find something that elevates you and allows you to remain a human being. ‘Orphan’ is sweet and sour, and this kid is a tough kid. He’s between childhood and adulthood, and sets off on a journey to find out the truth. As a viewer, you might know more than he does. But this interaction is ever evolving.” 

Nemes isn’t quite ready to make a contemporary film just yet, he says. 

“It might sound ridiculous, but my biggest concern would be technology. It has invaded our lives. I’d have to find the right angle and the right subject, and I’d be glad to do it, but I certainly feel very much at ease with things taking place in the past.”

In the meantime, he’s developing “Moulin,” about French Resistance hero Jean Moulin, starring Gilles Lellouche and shooting in September. Nemes spent a big part of his childhood in France. 

“It takes place in 1943, so here we go again. But it’s not a Holocaust film — it’s a Resistance film. I’ll show how he was caught by the Germans and how it all unfolded.” He’s been also trying to make a film in English “for quite some time now.” 

“It has proven very, very hard for some reason. Probably because I always try to retain control over my material. This system is very reluctant to give the director enough control, or maybe I’m just not at the right level. I want to keep making films in the European context, but I’d also like to make one in English with recognized actors. That’s definitely a plan.”

While the political situation in Hungary continues to be unstable, Nemes is looking for “the bigger picture behind everyday concerns.”

“I wonder: ‘What does it mean on a civilizational level?’ I’m always more interested in bigger tendencies, bigger trends and bigger evolutions than everyday politics, as well as creating relationships. Cinema can do it so well,” he says. 

“When so many people went to see ‘Son of Saul’ in Hungary, where the general tendency was to denigrate the Holocaust rather than to fully embrace the past, it created a shift in people’s psyche. At least to a certain extent. The internet is all about immediacy, about immediate anger and conflict. But the cinema I try to represent is the cinema where you can trust the viewer. You give them enough, but you also leave them some space. This way, it can be a personal journey for them, too.”